Middleton selectmen, public discuss tax rate increase

Thursday

Dec 20, 2012 at 3:15 AMDec 20, 2012 at 6:46 AM

By Samantha Allensallen@fosters.com

MIDDLETON — The Board of Selectmen and several members of the public Tuesday night engaged in a lively discussion of the recently announced tax rate, which jumped approximately 26 percent higher than last year’s rate.

Resident Lanny Wiggins told the board he believed selectmen had failed as “watchdogs” in managing the budget for the community.

“You’ve got so many people in this town that have kids,” he said. “You slam down a big tax bill like that and they’re having a hard time coming up with it.”

Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Todd LaPierre explained that while largely the tax rate increased because of the school portion of the rate — due to an influx of students attending Farmington schools through the town AREA agreement and a rise in tuition costs for the SAU 61 — the town approved this budget at last year’s town meeting in March.

Vice Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Terri Laughy expressed “it was crazy” how many articles residents approved at that time, going beyond selectmen and the Budget Committee’s recommendations.

On Tuesday, selectmen also explained that in past years, they had bought down the town rate, but this year they decided not to do that.

The tax rate went from $19.46 per $1,000 in 2011 to $24.60 per $1,000 this year. Middleton schools’ portion of the tax rate was up from $9.74 in 2011 to $12.78 this year — a 31.2 percent increase.

Wiggins said emphatically he hoped in the future a tax cap could be voted through for the town, similar to the systems in Dover and Somersworth.

“That’s something that would be good to come up with in March, a tax cap, so we will never run into this problem again,” he said. “You’ve got a lot of elderly people that can’t afford it but these young kids, that have kids, they’re having trouble coming up with those tax dollars you are asking for.”

LaPierre noted he was also not happy about his larger tax bill, which he estimated went up to $4,000 this year.

Resident Joann Coskie said perhaps in the future, the town could also work on making itself more attractive to local businesses, so they would be motivated to move to the area and boost Middleton’s revenue.

The tenor of the meeting centered around the point that more people should be involved in their local government. Secretary Kathleen Landry noted that while there were approximately 1,000 voters in town last year, only 75 showed up for Town Meeting.

In the Old Town Hall this week, the seven attendees of the evening’s meeting colorfully exchanged their thoughts with the selectmen, composed of three members, all impassioned and hoping to find solutions.

Secretary of the Middleton Budget Committee Marcia Stevens invited the public to attend budget meetings, noting a recent meeting was rescheduled for tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Old Town Hall.

“It will help you to see how we work on the budgets and what the departments are proposing for the coming years,” Stevens said.